The Rise and Fall of the Shinra Empire
by sableseraphim
Summary: post-METEOR. Shinra loyalists are seeking to rebuild the once-great company and bring it to power again. Meanwhile, Sephiroth is rumored to be . . . alive? Inside for summary.
1. Kifta

-------------------- Okay, here's how the story goes: It's about three years after METEOR, and ShinRa loyalists are beginning to rebuild the great company in secret. Hojo's former lab assistants are seeking to continue their predecessor's work and have just recieved reports from an anonymous source that, incredibly, impossibly, Sephiroth is still alive. So, of course, they send a scout, a top-ranking SOLDIER before the fall of ShinRa, to bring him back into the company's service.  
  
author's note - Go easy on me please *sniffles and looks at audience appealingly* It's my first fanfic, so flame me only if its really really really bad, alright? Also, I haven't ever played Final Fantasy VII, so tell me if I made any mistakes or if the characters seem out of character. Thanks so much ^_^  
  
disclaimer - I hate these. Why do I have to restate the obvious? *lawyers close in menacingly* *kuro neko whimpers and hides behind imaginary table* Fine . . . I don't own anything except for the plot and original characters. Everything else belongs to Square . . . HAPPY?!  
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"Here's the deal. We want to run some tests on him, so your job is to fetch the subject and persuade him to come back to ShinRa headquarters, where our lab is set up. If you succeed, I can promise you that your profits will be most lucrative," the lab assistant said.  
  
The raven-haired girl he'd been talking to nodded. She had a proffessional look about her, even though she was not wearing her usual SOLDIER attire. Her mako-enhanced eyes glowed green as she nodded curtly. The assistant smirked. The stupid girl'd do almost anything if there were money involved . . . not to say that she was stupid of course; she'd recieved thorough training in SOLDIER and had been a top-ranking officer, as well as a reliable assassin and undercover worker. Just that she was so easily bribed.  
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Great, Kifta seethed. Here she was trampling over rugged terrain, frozen to the bone, in the middle of nowhere. Well, she was somewhere, namely in the Nibel mountains, but the fact didn't really make any difference. ShinRa could have at least given her a chocobo for the job. Besides, this guy she was supposed to be looking for could be almost anywhere. No leads, no clues, no nothing to tell her where to start looking. So that those idiots had to tell her to start here. As good a place as any other, right? She looked around her. For Leviathan's sake, there wasn't even life here! Kifta sighed and decided to keep "looking".  
  
If she couldn't even find Sephiroth, how would she supposedly earn his trust and then lead him back into ShinRa's jaws? It was impossible. And yet, she found herself here. Why? she asked herself for the hundredth time this morning. But still, she had her own reasons for completing this assignment. The first and most obvious was that there was likely to be a considerable amount of money for her if she brought back the silver-haired general. Also, although she was a high-ranking SOLDIER, no one ever gave her the recognition she deserved. However, everyone had long hailed Sephiroth as the best SOLDIER ever. If she tracked him down, she'd probably have the opportunity to get rid of him afterward, thus placing herself at the top of the heap. Kifta smilled to herself. There was a silver lining lining to every cloud.  
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Sephiroth looked out through the cave's mouth at the lone figure traveling below. He instantly recognized her as a girl who'd once served under him in SOLDIER. So ShinRa was up again and try to catch him, huh? Well, she was just one person and could easily be taken care of, he thought as he drew his Masamune.  
-------------------- author's note: soooooo . . . was that okay? Sorry if its kinda short, but if it really stunk I don't want to burden people anymore. Sorry for any spelling errors, cuz I don't have SpellCheck, unlike all you lucky people who don't have to put up with lousy word processors. So tell me what you thought! Review and tell me if I should write the next chapter. Thanks! 


	2. the turks

author's note: Yay! I'm baaack! *crowd boos and throws mushy tomatoes* *dodges mushy tomatoes* Fine, be that way. On with the story! 

disclaimer: grrrrr . . . idontownfinalfantasycuzeverythingbelongstosquare . . . there, I said it. 

Rude glanced over at his two companions. Reno lay slumped over the bar, weakly clutching his drink. Elena was sitting next to him, trying to maintain a professional look while fending off an obnoxious bartender. Rude looked broodingly into his own drink, swirling the contents around the bottom of his glass. Since ShinRa had collapsed, the three of them had continued to travel together. At most towns, they were greeted with glares and hisses. But here, their presence seemed to be . . . welcomed. At any rate, hostility was more subdued. But some thing was going on, and the Turks were going to find out what. 

author's note: ARGHHH!!! Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry that this chapter is UNFORGIVABLY SHORT, but I just got back from a vacation and I'm sooo tired. For some weird reason, the document wasn't able to be uploaded, and I had to transform it into and HTML thingy. Tell me if it looks weird. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW, even if you're going to be nasty or insulting, cuz I guess this chapter deserves it. Thanks! ^_^ 


	3. Sephiroth

author's note: Yay! I'm baaack! *crowd boos and throws mushy tomatoes* Fine, be that way. On with the story!  
  
disclaimer: grrrrr . . . idontownfinalfantasycuzeverythingbelongstosquare . . . there, I said it.  
  
Preoccupied with her own thoughts, Kifta looked blankly at a sky dotted with stars. Almost ten hours of wasted work, and she was no closer to finding Sephiroth than a chocobo was to talking. She smiled to herself. Having a lust for money was one of her greatest faults, and nothing but a promise of pay could make her go to such insane lenghts.   
  
*snap*  
  
The raven haired girl immediately tensed and drew her gun in a fluid motion, staring into the darkness that engulfed the mountains. Nothing. Even with her enhanced senses, she could just make out the shapes of rocks and dead trees. She yelped in surprise when someone grabbed her from behind, thrashing blindy to get free. Sephiroth smirked as he pressed his sword against Kifta's throat, drawing her against him. He'd expected her to put up a better fight than that. Pathetic.  
  
"So you awake, my dear." Kifta flinched at the sound of his voice, one she and every other SOLDIER would instantly recognize. Not only had she failed miserably in her assignment, she had to be Sephiroth had to choose to be a jerk and purposely humiliate her by calling her his "dear".  
  
"Yes, I'm awake," she snarled impatiently. "Go ahead and run me through with that knife of yours."  
  
"It's a sword." Kifta was pleased to note that the general sounded slightly annoyed. So he wasn't as stoic and immovable as he'd led everyone else to believe. "And I'm not going to dispose of you just yet, my dear. You're going to lead me back to the ShinRa headquarters. Then I'll consider running you through with my sword." He accentuated the last word, glaring at Kifta. She almost laughed. Here was the great Sephiroth, acting petty and immature. As for the headquarters, she'd be more than glad to show him the way. That was her original assignment, after all.  
  
author's note: I'm so sorry. Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry. Sorry. This chapter is really short and I haven't updated for an unforgivably long time, but I have an explanation for that. Geometry homework is threatening to eat me alive. Finals are next week, and the teacher thinks helping us prep means loading 27 pages of homework on us every few days. Also, we have this idiotic writing assignment where we have two weeks to write a novel, which will then be published. Yeesh. Anyways, please review and tell me what you thought! For those of you who played FFVII, tell me if I got anything wrong. Thanks! ^_^ 


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